Every year at the beginning of August we celebrate my mate Rob's birthday by having a 'bit of a do'. So yesterday we had a 9 mile walk to the nearby town of Ironbridge, followed by a pub crawl and a curry, and a late taxi home. This, then, was my preparation for this morning's parkrun.
Up at 7am, coffee. Drink some water. Drink more water. Double check contents of pockets. Check for barcode about 10 times. Drive 10 minutes to Telford, park the car and walk to the park.
It's a beautiful morning, chilly at about 12 degrees but lovely and sunny. People are already milling about at the Visitor Centre where the run begins. Man in hi-viz jacket is obviously good at spotting newbies and tells me he'll be doing a briefing for first-timers in 10 minutes. It turns out there aren’t many rules, just be nice to other park users and have a good time.
Just before the start the race director congratulates a few regulars on their 50th or 100th parkruns. Everyone claps. 9 o’clock rolls around and we're off. I started right at the back along with Mrs t_m who is Nordic walking the course. The start is slow, but after a few hundred yards the crowd thins out and I can begin to stretch out a bit. Garmin buzzes. First km 7:08. Slow down Mike, you are so going to die. I get overtaken by a bloke pushing a buggie. The path takes us around a lake - it's a very nice place to be on a sunny morning. Buzz. 7:20, still too fast but everything seems to be working. Lots of encouragement from marshals. Onto lap 2 of the lake. Third split was 7:03 and I'm expecting to keel over at any moment. And so it went on. I didn’t keel over, and I actually kept up that pace. It's much quicker than I've ever managed before. After the finish I bumped into YamCat who was doing it for the second time. Hi!
Thanks to all who recommended parkrun - it was every bit as enjoyable as you promised, and I'll be back for more. Official results awaited.
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telford_mike
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Wow!!! Well done you.... can’t wait to do my first one but got 2 more runs to do before I get to GRADUATE.... what an amazing programme.... W1 nearly gave up as thought would never do it all but here I am beaming about W9 and just two more to go!!!! 👍🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️
I expect it was one of the all terrain types (especially as it was a man pushing😉) telford_mike may be able to confirm. They have biiiig wheels - it would take more than a stone to overturn them. I was on my long trail run this morning and overtaken and outdistanced by a mother pushing one, one handed and running very easily 😳). In my defence I was nearing the end of my run (but I dont know how far she was into hers!)
The ‘bloke with a buggy’ seems to get all over the place 🤣🤣 brilliant times Mike, glad you had fun and didn’t die (always a bonus!) - are you inspired to organise a Wengen ParkRun?! 😉
Haha thank you! We don't have any Parkruns at all in Switzerland unfortunately 😱 In Wengen we have a thing called 'Abendlauf' (evening run) which is 8k with loads of climbs, but it's only twice a year, and in any case I'd certainly die if I tried that one. I should be able to squeeze in one last Parkrun before I return at the end of the month hopefully.
Welcome back to the UK (even if it’s for a short break)! And huge congrats on the Parkrun. I really must get myself signed up for one before the children’s Saturday activities start up again 🙂
It was lovely to meet you. So glad you enjoyed it. I’m definitely hooked. I’ve already checked out where the Doncaster parkrun takes place, for when I’m visiting my mum up there
I'm from Telford, haven't tried the Parkrun yet as I'm only on Week 4. Still quite self conscious about my running technique and general appearance in sports gear , but getting better. I'm going to sign up for the Telford Dark Run 5k in October, I need a goal to keep me on track!
Sorry I missed this one Mike but looks like a beautiful day and your run went extremely well. Great pace💥! Well done! And you’ve done 8k this week! You star runner you 🤩! ❤️
Hi Mike , I must have missed this post. So glad you enjoyed a parkrun while over here. I just love them and have number 10 on Saturday. I haven’t run for a week so need to have a slow refresher today when visitors leave. Enjoy no 2! 🏃♂️. 🚶♀️
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